Saturday, November 29, 2014

Among all the species in the history of evolution, humans are at the top of the evolution chart. We are able to think, understand, communicate and perform various tasks and activities, which the other species are unable. This is possible because humans have a gift that no other species have. That is a programmable brain. Real Intelligence lies in programming or training our brain to avoid or bypass all the distractions, conserve our energy and focus on the task at hand. If one is able to do so effectively then the phrase ‘Nothing is impossible!’ is not far from reality.

Shivam House was privileged with the opportunity to ponder upon the topic and share thoughts and experiences everyone in the last week of November 2014.

Taking reference from the holy scripture Vachanamrut and excerpts from the blessings of Param Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji, the following was conveyed in the assemblies throughout the week:

If we speak inappropriately, we fill ourselves with negativity via our tongue. Negative or inappropriate words take away our energy and decreases our ability to perform our daily tasks. When we eat inappropriately, that negativity is reflected out when we crave to taste a particular food item that we bind ourselves with and that leads to frustration when we don’t get it. It also lures us to overeat and makes us lazy.

But if we speak appropriately and only about relevant things and also do not allow our sense of taste to defeat us, we will remain enthusiastic and energetic, and experience positivity in ourselves.

If we listen to irrelevant or inappropriate words or music, it fills us with negativity. On the other hand, wise and positive words, good books, appropriate songs or bhajans increases the positivity in us. Relating to the daily experiences of students, it was highlighted that sometimes when we sit down to study or try to think about something new, we hear in our head, some music or song that we may have heard in the past. That actually divides our focus and ends up wasting our time.

Our eyes are also remarkably capable of experiencing the world around us. Most of the times, we are not even aware of what we are seeing. If we allow our eyes to watch the negative of others or irrelevant things or inappropriate movies or shows, we will actually harm our own self. However, if we just see positive in others or allow our eyes only to see relevant and appropriate things, we shall experience an increase in energy and enthusiasm in our own self. Children also understood that memories of inappropriate movie scenes or irrelevant scenes or looking at the negative aspects of others or negativity in different situations, causes us to lose our concentration and even leads us to anxiety, anger and frustration.

And the same is the case for our sense of smell and touch.

Further it was made clear that our brain is like a sponge. It absorbs everything through the five senses. Anything we see, hear, taste, feel and smell will get stored in our brain. As a result, this will ignite emotions based on the quality it possesses.

If the input is positive then it will help us to conserve our energy, keep us enthusiastic, motivated and bring eternal bliss.

If the input is negative and we keep or dwelling upon it again and again the effect of it will be brutal. It will be like taking an intoxicant, a drug that will take control of our thinking ability and not allow us to think appropriately and hence we will feel anxiety, anger, frustration etc… It will also be a waste of lot of energy and time.

In Pratham 18, Shreeji Maharaj has also showed the way to keep our senses positive i.e. being with positive people, having darshan of Thakorji or saints, or watching appropriate documentaries or movies, can inspire us greatly.

Hence, Pratham 18 acts as an eye opener in our life. One who is aware of the ill-effects of dwelling on the negative things and puts consistent effort to maintain the positive inputs through one’s senses is a real intelligent person. Such a person will be able to conserve, nurture and utilize his energy to do productive tasks and will be able to achieve all his goals.

Children were also made aware that Shreeji Maharaj, towards the end in this Vachanamrut, says that “If you do so, I shall consider it to be equivalent to you having served Me in EVERY WAY. I will also bless all of you and be EXTREMELY PLEASED with you.”

Thus throughout the week we understood that

Senses are the precious gift of God to humans. Moreover, capability to think is like icing on cake.

We must be clear of what we want to do with our life. Have a goal, a destination to achieve.

Keep the company of people who are positive, who aim high and who persevere to achieve their destination and goal.

Keep the company of God realised saint to get constant motivation and guidance.

Thus, it was understood that by keeping our senses positive, we are actually serving God and, that is the true service of our soul and hence, of God. A real intelligent person realises that there is no limit to the bliss of God. He understands that he is different from his body, he is aatma and his birth here is mainly to purify his aatma and attain higher bliss of God.

Monday, November 24, 2014

After Suhradam House celebrated the remarkable value of Grit and a very joyful celebration of Anand Divas on 14th November, it was the privilege of Satyam House to celebrate the life and message of Nilkanth Varni. Regular daily assemblies were designed to give the essence of Nilkanth’s spiritual journey through the chosen episodes in a cultural set up of its original style and speech. It would start with Thakorji’s poojan and would follow with elucidation of two episodes a day, wherein, a student in traditional attire would read the episodes and the other would present the visuals on screen for the same. The reading and explanation was done in the form of ‘parayan’, a typical cultural way of narrating God’s acts. By the end of assembly, a video clip from the movie ‘Mystic India’ was shown to aid better understanding of Nilkanth’s journey and its purpose. This series ended on Friday with special a parayan by respected Pushpak Sir.

The week was concluded with a heart touching creative assembly on Saturday, “નીલકંઠ વર્ણી ની કલ્યાણ યાત્રા”. Bal Ghanshyam left His home at the age of 11 and was later known as Nilkanth Varni during His spiritual journey. He travelled to various places of pilgrimage across the length and breadth of India for more than seven years. During His penance, He undertook several austerities. Many interesting anecdotes found in the various accounts of Nilkanth’s life, which may awaken the varied interest of the students were highlighted to inspire them to higher spiritual endeavour. Few of its glimpses are as follow.

A young and innocent boy of age 11 has gone through a very tough journey, bare foot, facing extremely difficult situations where temperature is −40° C; which makes it almost impossible to survive for any human being. He also faced severe heat, rain and hailstones. Many a times He went without food and water. He lived between poisonous reptiles, insects and wild animals. He passed through the forests, over the mountains and through deep valleys. Barefooted, Nilkanth toured all the way without any conveniences.

Why had this boy gone to harsh forests? What was the purpose of His journey? How come He moved so fearlessly? Answering these, Nilkanth says “My journey is for the kalyan (the ultimate liberation) of countless lives”.

Nilkanth travelled across India and parts of Nepal in search of a true master and a true spiritual abode. In order to find such a pure and pious place, Nilkanth Varni would ask five the most mystic questions – What is Jiva? What is Ishwara? What is Maya? What is Brahma? What is Parabrahma? And in 1799, after seven years of journey, in the village of Loj in Saurashtra (Gujarat), Nilkanth Varni met Muktanand Swami, who was a senior disciple of Ramanand Swami. Muktanand Swami answered the five questions to Nilkanth’s satisfaction and He then decided to stay for the opportunity to meet Ramanand Swami. He eventually met Ramanand Swami after a few months, after which he decided to stay there itself and hence completed His journey.

The play not only inspired the students to fight against the hardships of life but also sparked an insight for faith and belief in the purpose of Supreme. Satyam House with all the students, didis and teachers tried to contribute their best to justify the several aspects of Nilkanth’s Kalyan Yatra.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

“Success is the name of failure turned inside out, The silver shade of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, It’s when things seem worst, That you must not quit”

NEVER QUIT, the message given by the imposing poem above reflects a very important value which the Suhradam House was privileged to celebrate: GRIT –‘Saying YES when your fear says NO’ from 10th to 15th Nov ‘14. The house members put in sincere efforts to help the students understand the core concept of a winning personality - GRIT.

On Monday, the value was introduced by respected Gautam Sir using a few illustrations about how grit helps in a student’s life. The message conveyed was that a student with grit is not the one who works really hard and eventually gives up after many trials he is the one that always stretches his limits and strives for improvement.

In addition to this, a few videos were shown about how all great achievers of the world had displayed that grit was the one of the most important characteristic responsible in helping them to achieve their goals.

Moreover, the interesting thing told to the students was that keeping grit is a choice. It’s an attitude. It’s not something that someone is born with, nor is it something that is given to them. In fact, grit can be developed through an optimistic mind set and coping with setbacks, disappointments and failures. This elucidation really strengthened the eagerness of students to attain GRIT.

On Tuesday, respected Anand Sir explicated the value Grit as “sticking with things or plans over a very long term until you master them”. To make this definition more meaningful, he provided students a real life example of Juliane Koepcke. She was a 17 years old girl when the aircraft in which she was travelling was destroyed by a storm and crashed in the jungle and she had fallen down about 10000 ft from the aircraft into the Amazon rain forests. Her struggle for survival really moved the students and it worked as a great motivational source for them due to the message and learning derived from the story.

On Wednesday, respected Archana Ma’am enlightened all about the value grit with the saying: “A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner.” She explained that winners always endure, they never quit. For instance, she said, “Athletes put in years of practice, and commitment for a few seconds or minutes of performance”. She also provided two highly inspiring incidents from the lives of Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lankan cricketer) and Chris Moon (a double amputee who has competed in a wide range of marathons and ultra-distance races). It helped the students really believe that “Characters cannot be developed in ease and quite. Only through trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. Triumphs don’t come without effort.” It also left the students with a zealous heart full of desires to reach their goals.

Thursday brought its own charm in form of divine blessings from Param Pujya Swamishree, manifestation of GRIT Himself, when respected Prajval Sir helped students to learn the value from him. A video clip from one of his discourses at AVM was shown wherein He asked students to do three prayers whenever they visited the prayer hall:

the ability to score above 70% marks in all the subjects,

to have a company of good friends, and

the ability to keep calm and never get angry in any situation.

Students were contented to get to know what to pray in order to achieve a very important value like grit and to become a fantastic performer in whatever they do in life.

With the fabulous celebration of the Children’s Day, the journey of learning grit began with the value instilled in their heart which will surely help them become great achievers, fighters and the makers of history one day.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Kabaddi is one of the popular games in south Asia, especially in India. The sport is believed to have originated in the southern part of India and still is a very popular sport in most parts of India. It is also a sport in which India has done remarkably well at the international level. India have won every single world cup and the Asian games title in the sport.

In the age of IPL, the Pro Kabaddi League, which is broadcast and sponsored by the leading sports network in India, Star Sports, gained new heights in terms of popularity among the youth. And AVM was not an exception! The awareness generated by the Pro Kabaddi League and the enthusiasm of the school coaches transpired into the students and several students were taken to the liking of the sport which laid foundation for a very successful inter-house competition.

The competition was divided in three categories:

Sub Junior (Std 4, 5 and 6)

Junior (Std 7, 8)

Senior (Std 9, 10, 11)

Even though the coaching for kabaddi is done throughout the year, a special, week-long, coaching and training program was kept preceding the competition to assist the participants give an even better performance.

After the initial rounds full of excitement, it was then time for the finals. In the Sub Junior category, Suhradam House in their match against Shivam House, showed remarkable spirit to stay in the match against a more fancied Shivam House team. But Shivam House won the final comprehensively with the score of 103–81.

In the Junior category, Satyam House played the competition favourites Sundaram House. Members from both the teams showed some exhilarating skills and temperament to make the finals very entertaining for the spectators. But in the end, Sundaram House won the final with the score of 116–62.

Finals in Senior category was more closer and intense as the participants from both Suhradam and Sundaram houses were determined to win the category to help their house win the competition. The match was also very high on skill and strategy. In a seesaw battle, both teams showed glimpses of why they were the finalists as they won over the amazed spectators as the end of the match beckoned. Eventually, Suhradam House team won the final against a very resilient Sundaram House team.

To grace the occasion of the finals and to present the inter-house trophy to the winners, Pujya Suhrad Swamiji and Vice Principal Respected Ashish Sir were present. Due to their superb performances across all the categories, Sundaram House became the inter-house Kabaddi champion for 2014-15.

The final points table is as follows:

House

Points

Position

Sundaram

24

1

Shivam

22

2

Suhradam

18

3

Satyam

08

4

The enthusiasm and increased participation in a very traditional sport like kabaddi amongst the urban kids itself is the greatest achievement of this Interhouse Kabaddi Competition. On behalf of Atmiya parivar, we congratulate Hemant Sir (School Kabaddi Coach), the entire sports team and the student players for putting up such a successful event.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

In AVM, the student-teacher relationship isn’t what usually runs around the globe. It is more of completing and complimenting one another, where our world is our teachers and more importantly, we are the world for the teachers. Our teachers live with us playing so many different roles such as mentor, friend, parent, guide and much more. At AVM, we all live together as a family and there’s not a moment when we are without their ever so friendly and warm company.

It will be not be an exaggeration, if 14th November, 2014 is considered a golden day , which will always hold a very significant importance in the history of AVM, because this day, adorably termed as ‘आनंद दिवस’ was a day of joy, surprise and excitement for all AVM students. This Children’s Day celebration was like never before.

The start of the schedule of the day itself was a great surprise. All of us were asked to wear home clothes, and after breakfast we all hit the play grounds with our counterparts of the day, our teachers. Our state of confusion immediately turned into a surge of excitement and joy as soon as we got to know that our dearest teachers had organized a series of games for all of us. Moreover, the much fun filled cricket matches, we all had been grouped into as many as 8 teams and the number of matches had been organized in such a way that each one of us got a chance to be the part of the game.

The atmosphere was completely fun-blended and the teachers demonstrated a new avatar with track pants, umpire hats and the ever reassuring love and affection from their gestures. The surmounting thrill and unbolted joy was flowing and gushing all over with the very presence of these ‘God sent angels’: our teachers, who seem to be descended from heaven for the day.

It became all the more fun when our teachers, housemasters and sports teachers joined us wholeheartedly in supporting us and cheering us up to make the day very eventful. We students could not but be amazed at the well-planned activities for the day. Their love and concern was much expressed. How engrossed they were with us playing all the games! We all enjoyed at the fullest!

It melted our hearts and made us wanting to hug them as we saw them doing different, little tasks for us. At one glance we could see our teachers noting down scores, giving a live commentary of the matches being played, at another glance we saw our teachers encouraging us, giving us useful tips, sharing jokes and many a times playing with us. That day, we had forgotten that they were our teachers, because their love towards us made us feel as if they were our best buddies.

At the same time, our junior friends were not being any less entertained. Our junior grade teachers had organized a series of cultural events, where they performed anchoring, dance, skits and acts. Our juniors could not hold themselves from yelling and roaring with laughter in joy throughout the programme which was organized specially for them in the school-auditorium. The teachers danced, enacted funny scenes, conversed in a funny and chatty manner and brought the stage to fire with all sorts of performances for their little angels: the students.

Anyone who observed the scene could never stop the feeling of joy and sweetness infecting everyone in the campus. Seeing the teachers and students enjoying in such unison with no age and experience barriers, we could not stop ourselves from thinking that we were blessed to have such wonderful teachers which made the day for us.

All of us had to admit that there’d never been a day as this where we enjoyed to the fullest.

And that is not all, fun-fiesta ended with super-delicious mouth-watering dishes like Canapés, all kinds of fancy dosa and ice creams, specially arranged for all of us. The day left its mark with much-enjoyed and enthralling part of the fun fair – the variety of games on different stalls. We laughed, played, ate and enjoyed like never before.

This day has been imprinted on the memory plates of our minds, forever, as the day of greatest joy – truly आनंद दिवस.

Monday, November 10, 2014

When
the great poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote these lines, hardly had he
thought that his words would take shape of reality in Gujarat. Gujarat,
the ‘Land of the Legends’ which leaves behind impressions with
footprints on the sands of time. Life is a Celebration for those who
live in Gujarat, a place where Gods chose to exist! Hence Sundaram House
unfolded the astounding features of ‘Garvi Gujarat’ in the first week
of this November.

Throughout this week, during morning
assemblies, members of Sundaram House showed informative presentations,
enchanting videos and explanatory speeches in order to make the students
aware of the rich heritage and unique culture of Gujarat.

On
Monday, to begin with, students were shown a video-clip about the
Gujarat Development Model, which explained and showed Gujarat as India’s
fastest developing state, stating Gujarat’s commendable achievements.
The next day, a captivating and much convincing PowerPoint presentation
was shown on the topic, ‘Contribution of Gujarat in the fields of
Science and Literature’. Students acknowledged the role of Vikram
Sarabhai and Pranav Mistry in the field of Science and Technology. On
the third day of this week, students were shown some videos related to
the contribution of Gujarat born leaders in the Freedom Struggle and
politics. Legendary personalities like Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and
Narendra Modi were praised for their inspiring lives.

On the
following day, students got the opportunity to watch a video clip which
showed Param Pujya Swamiji mentioning in his speech that Gujarat is a
pious and the most sanctified land as it has been the ‘chosen land’ by
saints, deities and religious Gurus of India.

The week was
concluded with highlights of other remarkable and fascinating features
of Gujarat, its cultural significance, historical places and temples and
architecture. Through speech and video, students were made aware about
the vast natural resources and its rich, cultural heritage which has
endeared Gujarat and Gujaratis even to the rest of the world.

Additionally,
in the assemblies of junior students, there was much fun with glimpses
of marvelous features of their motherland Gujarat. Each day of this
week, brought some valuable information to these little young minds.
They acknowledged much information and facts about food, music,
religion, custom, traditions of Gujarat. Most noticeably, the last day
was extremely fun-filled for them, as the junior group of Sundaram House
presented a scintillating Garba Dance.

Thus the students of
Atmiya Vidya Mandir realized and rediscovered the charm and charisma of
Gujarat, where the future is expected to have in store, days full of
peace, prosperity, wealth and immense beauty of culture, tradition and
nature.